On Wednesday, Bungie had its second layoff in less than a year, letting go of 17% of its workforce, roughly 220 employees. Many were critical of CEO Pete Parsons, saying he had failed to take accountability for his own bad bets and that he was overly optimistic in his communication with the staff. Now, more details have been revealed including how longtime studio veterans Luke Smith and Mark Noseworthy were part of the departures as well as other top leaders; and what’s next for the studio.
The Bungie teams that were hit hard include audio, narrative, and player support. Those who lost their jobs as part of the layoffs will be receiving packages that include at least three months of severance and health benefits.
Prior to Smith and Noseworthy’s departure, they were hard at work on a new incubation project set in the Destiny universe codenamed Payback. The idea is that would shake up the formula in major ways such as switching to a third-person perspective and allowing players to use the franchise’s characters to explore a large world while cooperating to battle monsters and solve puzzles. It would’ve taken elements from popular games like Warframe and Genshin Impact. Payback was canceled two months ago to prioritize games that were more imminent, moving the majority of its team to Marathon. The cancelation was one of the reasons that Smith and Noseworthy left Bungie.
Bungie’s future is still focused on Destiny 2, albeit in a different way. Instead of major expansions like the recently released The Final Shape, Bungie will look to retain and attract players with smaller-scale content drops similar to Into the Light. These drops will be free along with overhauls to activities that Bungie hopes will appeal to hardcore players. Bungie is also looking to introduce a storyline that will feature characters and worlds that has not been explored yet in Destiny.
Many would assume that the next step for the Destiny franchise would be Destiny 3. According to people familiar with the plans, Destiny 3 has not been in development. Bungie will instead focus on creating a smoother onboarding process such as rebranding, to attract new players who might feel daunted by everything.